The mother of Daverico Downey, a North Preston, N.S. man who was murdered in the spring, is frustrated no arrests have been made in her son’s death.

Daverico was shot to death in April. His killing was the third in Halifax that week in a shocking spate of gun violence, and so far there have been no arrests made in any of them.

As his mother copes with her grief, she also says she’s concerned the case has slipped to the back burner for police. She says young criminals are effectively outsmarting veteran investigators.

“All these skills, they go to school with all this education and stuff, but the little young boys seem to be outsmarting them,” says Daverico’s mother, Carry Beals Downey. “So what are we to do?”

Just a few weeks shy of his 21st birthday, Daverico's mother says he had the world by the tail. He’d picked up his high school diploma and had a natural talent for basketball – he wanted to play pro one day.

Police say his murder is very much an active investigation, but there simply hasn’t been much to report lately. Downey says she has had no updates from police, and Cpl. Jennifer Clarke of the Nova Scotia RCMP says she will pass along Downey's concerns to investigators.

“We know the people are out there who have information about this file,” says Clarke. “We would encourage them to come forward with any information they have to help us get through this investigation and solve it.”

It’s a hope shared by Downey, who now treasures a handful of mementos of her son, including his favourite hat.

“You just don’t understand how it hurts until it hits your home and then you may want somebody to do the same thing for you."

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko